text: Venoms are naturally occurring substances that organisms evolved to deploy against other organisms, in defense or attack.  They are often mixtures of  proteins that act together or singly to attack their specific targets within the organism against which they are used, generally with high specificity and generally easily accessible through the vascular system.  This has made venoms a subject of study for people who work in drug discovery.  With developments in omic technologies (proteomics, genomics, etc.), researchers in this field became able to identify genes that produce certain elements in an animal's venom, as well as protein domains that have been used as building blocks across many species. In conjunction with methods of separation and purification of compounds, scientists are able to study each individual compound that exists within a venom "concoction", looking for compounds to serve as drug leads or other use. Each venomous organism produces thousands of different proteins giving access to millions of different molecules that still have potential uses. In addition, nature is continuously evolving; as prey develop resistance to these venoms, the predators also evolve as well, creating novel toxins that can continue to act upon its respective prey.